The Mixed Media Artist Geraldine Robarts

Geraldine Robarts (1939) -- Mixed Media

Artist Profile

Kenyan artist Geraldine Robarts

Geraldine Robarts was born in London in 1939, and grew up in South Africa.

Although she was the youngest ever student to be accepted for the Slade School of Art in London, she elected to complete her studies in South Africa, receiving a first class honours degree in Fine Art from the University of Witwatersrand. She later gained MA in Education from the University of Nairobi.

In 1968 she was selected to exhibit in “Artists of Fame and Promise” in Liverpool, England and in 1977 she took the Gold Medal at the arts competition in Palermo, Italy. She has exhibited worldwide and her work is in both institutional and private collections. For many years Geraldine was a lecturer in Fine Art, first at Makerere University, Kampala and then at Kenyatta University, Nairobi.

Geraldine is a Canadian landed immigrant and in 1989 worked as Visiting Professor in Art Education at McGill University, Montreal. She has a large family living in Canada, China, England, Germany, South Africa and the USA. She won the open prize for designing the Africa Hall at Expo 2000, Hannover.

She is a Baha’i and has been a prominent worker with women’s groups in Kenya since 1972. In the early 1960’s she brought the craft of Batik making from Indonesia to Uganda and then to Kenya because the price of paints, brushes, and canvas was beyond the pocket of local artists, and in the early 1990’s created workshops for making colourful ornamental sisal weaving and wallhangings in Kitui, Kenya.

She also introduced solar fruit drying of mangoes and for 20,000 people at Kalimani, Kitui, facilitated the development of the health centre and water scheme providing water even in times of drought.

Exhibitions

Forthcoming Exhibitions

2011: Village Market – May, Nairobi, Kenya

Other Exhibitions

2010: At home – November, Nairobi, Kenya

2010: Village Market – May, Nairobi, Kenya

2009: At home- May/June, Nairobi, Kenya

2008: The Andrea Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Village Market : May, Nairobi, Kenya

Beijing TFLH: April, Beijing, China

Beijing RIA: April, Beijing, China

2007: At home, Nairobi, Kenya

Women’s joint show, The GoDown, Nairobi, Kenya

Village Market : Nairobi, Kenya

UNEP Governing Council, Nairobi, Kenya

2006: Village Market – October (50 year retrospective), Nairobi, Kenya

Village Market – May, Nairobi, Kenya

French Cultural Centre (Group Show), Nairobi, Kenya

2005: At Home, Nairobi, Kenya

Ju Fu Dian, Beijing, China

The Open Gallery, Beijing, China

African Heritage, Nairobi, Kenya

2004: At Home, Nairobi, Kenya

Village Market, Nairobi, Kenya

The Sonia Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Sheraton Hotel, Djibouti

2003: Village Market, Nairobi, Kenya

The Sonia Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2002: Sheraton Hotel, Kampala, Uganda

French Cultural Centre (Group Show), Nairobi, Kenya

Village Market, Nairobi, Kenya

Open Studio, Nairobi Kenya

2001: The Racecource, Nairobi, Kenya

Florence Gallery, Beijing, China

The Karyn House, Beijing, China

UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya

2000 : Expo 2000, Hannover, Germany

Open Studio, Nairobi, Kenya

French Cultural Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya

1999: Village Market Exhibition Hall, Nairobi, Kenya

The International Centre, Beijing, China

Robert Conn Studio, Toronto, Canada

Commissions

Murals, paintings and prints for:

The Stanley Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

Nyali Beach Hotel, Mombasa, Kenya

Diani Reef Grand Hotel, Mombasa, Kenya

Whitesands Hotel, Mombasa, Kenya

Neptune Beach Hotel, Mombasa, Kenya

The Grand Regency Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

Fairview Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

Award

COLLECTIONS

Geraldine Robarts’s works are held in a large number of collections worldwide, including:

London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada

There are major private collections in Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, England, Israel, USA, Canada, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania

What am up to now

I am going to the South Coast of Mombasa to paint the sea, both in the macrocosm and the microcosm, above the surface of the water and below the surface.

The sand, the coral, the fish, the birds, the clouds, the water. Exploring the contextual similarities and differences of everything to do with the sea and experimenting with the life of the ocean. A huge task but very exciting as I have always loved and felt at one with the sea and I am never happier than when I am in it, feeling close to my Creator!

I am working in both oil and watercolour. The gestation period will be until end of May 2011, when the work will be exhibited at Village Market, Nairobi.

Contact The Artist

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Kaafiri Kariuki at the Creativity Gallery

Shades of Time: An exhibition by Kaafiri Kariuki at the Creativity Gallery National Museum of Kenya

Mixed Media By Regions

Exhibitions

Conrad Botes at the KZNSA Gallery

Featured Artist Portfolio

Title: Making Ways
Name: Tabitha Wa Thuku
Country: Kenya
Medium: Mixed media on heavy canvas
Size: 149 X 140 cms
Click here to view